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Thursday, March 27, 2014

New unemployment claims were only 311,000 last week which is the lowest they've been before the Republicans shut down of the United States Government. Claims are not as low as they should be, but with the economy still stumbling along in the middle of the Bush Great Depression they are at least in the positive range if only indicating a lukewarm job market.

The only stimulus to the economy is coming from the Federal Reserve continuing to buy bonds and German companies using the US as a low cost manufacturing floor. Good American job 'creators' continue to move as many jobs out of the country as they can. The Fed stimulus has been tapered from $85b a month down to $55b comprised of buying $30b in Treasury bonds from the after market (not from the Treasury) and $25b in mortgage backed securities.

The main purpose of the QE3 money printing scheme is to produce a real inflation rate of 2% with the idea that companies and banks will be inclined to do something with the trillions in cash that they have sitting on rather than watch it evaporate. The super rich are hoarding cash like they do during any Depression. With inflation near zero and the economy sluggish they hope to take advantage of deflation. Should asset prices start to fall they would likely drop by the typical 90%, and allow some billionaires to become trillionaires in today's dollars.

You might point out that the fortunes of the rich would also decline by 90%, but it's not the actual dollar amount that matters to the rich, but the amount of 'real wealth' that they hold. Running the value of money up and down to capture wealth from the middle class is a long standing practice. It happened many times in the US up until the New Deal. This was also what the temple money changers would do to the common people in Biblical times, and that was what prompted a certain socialist to drive them out. Conservatives don't seem to care how much wealth is stolen from the common people, and in fact applaud the practice as righteous. Apparently they've got a lock on the temple door, and their only 'socialist' remains firmly nailed to the cross.

Twitter @Bruce Enberg - where we do what we can to drive out the money changers.

4
comments:

Anonymous
said...

What I hear as I go about my work, is that some people are beginning to stir d=from their stupor. They are beginning to realize that they have been and are being screwed, and they are not too happy. If we could get enough to get the message I wonder if their would be a revolution of the used-to-be-middle-class? I can dream, can't I?

I know it's off the subject but some news on the "Obamacare" front. Georgia's Republican Governor, Governor Deal has a deal for his indigent people needing health care. His hospitals in his state are in financial trouble from providing "free" health care to the indigent. Three hospitals have gone bankrupt and have closed. His solution have congress repeal the 1986 Emergency Treatment and Stabilization And Women-in-Labor Act. That requires hospitals recieving Federal Funds to treat the indigent regardless if they can pay for treatment. When the US Solicitor General Velieniti brought this law up during oral arguments in the Supreme Court on the constitutionality the ACA Justice Anton Scalelia retorted; "that was because of a law passed during the Reagan Administration and it should be repealed"! Now if the governor and justice get their way the dead bodies would become a public health problem. Every one with a Social Security number recieves a burial stipend of $200 and Veterans get $300 from the VA. These stipends could be signed over to private sanatation companies to bag the bodies and deliver them to the land fill.

I think they -- well, at least the government, is trying to prevent deflation. That might be extortion game going on, the "stimulus at the top" we are seeing is payouts to prevent the deflation, a sort of ransom as the too-big-to-jail banks extort the economy.

However, it's better for their game plan. Sure they could rob the middle class of more wealth at a quicker pace with quick waves of deflation and inflation -- "when cash becomes king and you have none, kiss the ring."

But the way to get blood out of a turnip is "slowly." As long as they don't startle the middle class -- they can keep ratcheting up the pain. To boil the frog (so many metaphors, so little time!).

A quick Deflation would do wonders for our country. But along malaise will allow them to get the paupers fighting each other, as one hate group thinks a minority group might have gotten more crumbs from the table. That's the reason that all these billionaires buy media companies anyway.

Anyway, keep up the yeoman's work. I wish I could still listen to Mike Malloy but I don't have the money to subscribe and his radio show can't compete with "ancient bad jazz" on the AM dial at 2 am (er, or the Rich don't like the message).

The Supreme Court yesterday opened the door for still bigger political campaign orgies for oligarchs and on-the-take politicians. One of the ways that money will be spent is to buy political advertising. I think it's time to rob that effort of its value

The is the age of the meme. How's this one: Perhaps it could be a graphic of a screen showing the words: Political Ads Are Lies.

It's a simple message and may not always be true. However it will plant the idea that big ad pushes are the product of big liars.

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